44 ejected Mayor. You, SIr, 'lre an ap- poin ted official." "I t is perfectly true that elected of- ficials should be available to powerful constituencies, and this is one," said Sweet, apparently unruffled. "And no one is n10re avaiLlble than the Mayor. But, for the Mayor to do his job, he must be able to determine whom he can meet and how he can best arrange his schedule. I can't ten you whether he'll be back tonight, becaue;e I don't know." "Nobody has more respect for po- licelnen and for the wounded than I do," Rangel sa:d, and Grey, sitting in a back row, snickered. "But here we have a beautiful, peaceful demon';tra- tion outside-I've never seen one more beautiful-and it's a demonstratIon supporting him. He's declared the strike inegaL 11 { ' s said the union has gone too far this time. It is insulting to us for him not to be able to arrange hie; priorities so that he can meet with us, too. " 1 ssemblyman Kretchmer, who is a dapper man in his thirties with a bold mustache, addressed the I)eputy May- or: "Tell us, what applications are you going to make in court ? You're now in the third strike. 'T'hree strikes and , " you re out. "I thInk that the Corporation Coun- sel has applied for sanctions against Mr. Shanker," Sweet said. "But what about getting the schools ...." K h d " y , open r retc mer pursue. ou re speaking for the l\!layor. How are you going to get the schools open tomor- row? " "The Mavor's efforts toda} ," Sweet said, "have been to contact ev- eryone he can who might have a useful suggestion in that regard." "0 h, God!" Grey groaned. "l"'he issue before us," the Depu ty Mayor said, ignoring Grey, "is wheth- er the Superintendent of Schools ie; going to run the schools or whether Mr. Shanker will. The Board of Edu- cation is meeting this afternoon. \Vhdt will corne of that I don't know I ha ve been in meetings wIth Mr. Shan- ker all week, and I don't think he will change his mind about the strike." 'So much for the issue before us," Grev said. Senator Paterson was annoyed. "What about gLtting the schools open?" he demanded. "\Vhy all the hesitation? " "\Ve might all agree that just the physical opening of the schools wilJ go a long way toward solving the prob- leln," the l)eputy Mayor said. "Yes," said Paterson. "Strange GA THER. Sometimes still wet from the shower she wIll corne to me to lie by me, saying she could not wait to be with me, and then do I take her head in m} hands, gather all to her grace, the fields of my childhood, an songs I have sung, all hiIl-paths taken, all evenings among friends, the summer waters, the flame of the white farm, the filling of all flowers, her head in my hands, her eyes wide, gather all that I was and am, all I shall be, and love. -MICHAEL DENNIS BROWNE . things can happen once the schools are " open. "I agree, I agree," said the Deput} Mayor There was silence as we searched for what had been agreed to. Then Assembl} man Rangel said, as he set- tled back in his chair, "I assume you'd have no objection to our waiting for the Mayor, if we are willing to in- . I " convenIence ourse ves. "Yes, I do! " For the first time there was an edge to the Deputy Mayor's voice. "I would object because Wf have not had dny sit-ins at City Hall for some time. And We just cannot have any more. If there was a sense of hos- tility toward the lVlayor In this delega- tion-if there was not a senSe of shared objectives-it might be a dif- ferent situation. But even then-" "I don't think that we're calling this ct sit-in," Grey said, smiling. "\Vhat we're saying is that we're just resting until the Mayor returns." "It is not our responsibility that the Mayor is not here," Strickland told Sweet, looking at him almost as if he were abuilding. "This is a question of our expressing solidarity with ()cean Hill-Brownsville, and perhaps the best expression of our concern would be to extend our hodies here to show our solidarity with our brothers in the street. " "Let me speak honestly and from the heart," the Deput} Mayor said. "I do have respect for you and the or- j. Q :\ · - ,p.....t:) . þì .'{ . " . ;;:!" ï ì - - ,:&.Æ1""'.,.Ja-" . ganizations which you represent The Ma} or is deeply committed to a whole host of activitie,; devoted to the str;ke and ways to solve it. I reallv do not think you win be doing your cause an} good bv staying here." "I would like to caucus the com- mittee," Strickland said, ris ng. Sweet nodded and strode out of the room. "I'm for staying," Rangel told the caucus. "Thdt legislature l'ln going to in ] an uary will be the most con- servative in yedrs. It's not going to give m} community any reason to have faith in constitutional procedures. 'rhe only use I can be in that legisla- ture is to dramatize this school "itua- tinn, and it seems to me I can start doing that right now. Here." "If We stay," said Neier, of the Civil Liberties Union, "it will give Shanker a chance to point to us as dn- other illustration of what he would call the i]]egality that is synonymous with cOlnmunity control. On the other hand, the Mayor has determined so far not to meet this issue head on, and maybe we can put more pressure on h;m if this heterogeneous group of responsible cit- . d " I7ens oeS stay. "I don't see how anyone can call it illegal," said Rangel. "This is not a sit-in." " L . " G . d " I ' Isten, rey sa'. ve got some experience at this. I've had my head husted several times here, and I've been arrested here. Sure, it's not a sit-in-until they ask you to leave." 'rhe city planner I had seen earlier came in. "Can I talk to you?" he said to Stnckland. They left the room, but Strickland quickly returned, alone. "I have some Inore information to feed to the com- mittre," hr told us. "They're all gone, out there." He pointed toward the WIn-